Teams from area high schools vied for prizes in the "Mousetrap Target Practice" last Thursday at Widener University in Chester. The goal: to see which could catapult an eraser the farthest into a target using only a standard mousetrap spring for power. The team from Upper Darby - Hong Ten, Sumin Pak and BettyAnn Atkinson - won first prize, $100.

Robert C. Melzi, 96, of Bala Cynwyd, professor emeritus of Romance languages at Widener University, died Thursday, March 1, at home. Dr. Melzi was on the Widener faculty for 30 years and chaired the Romance language department in the 1970s. He also taught courses at the University of Pennsylvania, St. Joseph's University, Villanova University, and Bryn Mawr College. In 1967, Dr. Melzi, an expert on Dante, wrote Castelvetro's Annotations to the 'Inferno': A New Perspective in Sixteenth Century Criticism . After 11 years of work, in 1973 he published the Bantam New College Italian-English Dictionary . "Up until now," he told the Philadelphia Daily News, "the bilingual dictionary for the most part reflected the tastes, culture, and language of Great Britain.

A sometime firefighter, teacher and mayor of Marcus Hook, Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.) is borrowing another title this fall: professor. Last week at Widener University, he led his first class of a three-hour seminar, "Issues in American National Security," that he is teaching with Martin E. Goldstein, a government professor. Weldon has focused on relations with Russia and China during his 12 years in Congress. He said he planned to draw on that experience in the course, which will focus on a different topic in global security each week.

Jay Bechtel's first decision as president of Widener University was a doozy. He could pluck from the waiting list and admit the hopeful high school senior whose grades and SATs were mediocre at best. Or, despite that student's improving attendance record and ambitious course load, he could send him packing. "I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt," Bechtel said. "I hope he doesn't prove me wrong. " "Sounds good, Mr. President," responded Ed Wright, Widener director of admissions.

As Widener University president Robert Bruce prepares to retire next month, he can justly say that he has achieved virtually everything he set out to do when he took the school's helm 20 years ago. Bruce, 63, has guided Widener from an uncertain infancy to its current status as a well-established and respected regional educational institution. During his tenure, the university has invested more than $100 million in improvements to its three campuses and more than tripled the size of its annual operating budget.

The dye-stained fingers and sticky palms of 68 fifth graders were enough to convince science teacher Dorothy Waninger that the chemistry experiment at Widener University was a success. The students had discovered the science behind Silly Putty, while the teachers had observed how encouraging students to "get their hands dirty" increased interest in the lesson. Such sharing of educational techniques, Waninger said, was one of the goals of the Professional Development School contract established this school year between Lakeview Elementary School and Widener.

Finish college and get your law degree - in just six years! That is the promise held out to students at Pennsylvania's 14 state-run universities, under a new partnership between the public State System of Higher Education and Widener University, a private institution. The 3+3 Early Admission Program, announced yesterday, gives qualified students the option to leave undergraduate studies after three years to enter the Widener School of Law in Harrisburg. The first year of law school would also satisfy credit requirements for a bachelor's degree.

For more than a decade, James W. Ray was trapped in a fog of drugs and mental illness. In and out of hospitals and emergency rooms, he sometimes landed in halfway houses or jail, one step from the streets. He told anyone who would listen that he was a rich man. That his family once had a 110-room mansion with masterpieces by Rembrandt and Renoir, and ancestral portraits by John Singer Sargent. That his great-granddad owned a racetrack in Miami. Nurses and caseworkers nodded politely while jotting down observations like "delusions of grandeur" and "inflated self-worth" in his records.

Stanford Frank, 92, of Bala Cynwyd, the last president of Frank's Beverages, a Philadelphia bottling company known for its black cherry wishniak soda, died Thursday, Jan. 30, of age-related illness at his home. Mr. Frank was the grandson of Jacob Frank, who founded the beverage company in 1895 in South Philadelphia. In its heyday, the last half of the 20th century, Frank's was the largest privately owned beverage bottling company in the Philadelphia area. It prospered under the advertising slogan "If it's Frank's, thanks!"

Holding two candles, Widener University student Inarni Baidzaloi performed a demonstration of the Malaysian martial art gayong America. Her demonstration yesterday was part of the school's International Student Fair, which university officials hope to make an annual event.

William J. Coopersmith, 88, of Glen Mills and Jupiter, Fla., a retired executive, civic leader, and sportsman, died of cancer Saturday, Feb. 7, at Taylor Hospice Residence in Ridley Park. A Philadelphia native, he graduated from Villanova College in 1950 and spent a year studying at Georgetown Law School. The world of commerce beckoned, though, so he joined his father, becoming general manager of Great Leopard Super Markets. He operated one of the nation's first supermarkets in the refitted shell of a textile mill in Chester.

HER SAFE WORD is "Oprah. " Which seems perfect for Dr. Tiffanie Davis Henry, who may or may not have been joking when she revealed that tidbit during a "50 Shades of Grey" discussion on TLC's late-night talk show "All About Sex" (11 p.m. Saturdays). "It shuts everything down," she said. Not that Davis Henry - who answers to "Dr. Tiff" - is looking to shut anyone or anything down. If she's the voice of reason on a panel that includes actresses and comedians Margaret Cho, Heather McDonald and Marissa Jaret Winokur, it's because the former co-host of ABC's "The Revolution," has done her homework.

You can call it the "Derrick Jones effect. " No, not just the audible astonishment the 6-foot-6 senior's aerial displays elicit from the Archbishop Carroll faithful. Apparently, Jones' exploits also change the energy of his teammates. "It definitely gives us a spark every time he gets a dunk," Patriots guard Samir Taylor said. "I feel like that helps us change the game around. " Jones and Co. jumped on Haverford School, 69-49, in front of a near-capacity crowd Tuesday night at Widener University in the Pete and Jameer Nelson Holiday Classic.

YOU CAN call it the "Derrick Jones effect. " No, not just the audible astonishment the 6-6 senior's aerial displays elicit from the Archbishop Carroll faithful. Apparently, Jones' exploits also change the energy of his teammates. "It definitely gives us a spark every time he gets a dunk," said Patriots guard Samir Taylor. "I feel like that helps us change the game around. " Last night at Widener University, Jones and Co. jumped on Haverford School, 69-49, in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Pete and Jameer Nelson Holiday Classic.

Chester High School freshman Jameisha Johnson is the first to admit that school was not working for her. She struggled academically, had serious behavioral issues, and was placed in an alternative-school program. Then two Widener University professors and their cadre of student tutors stepped in with a pilot program aimed at increasing literacy for at-risk students, simultaneously providing hands-on experiences for their education majors. "My grades went up. My behavior improved.

BJ. HOGAN has been named the new varsity football coach at Cardinal O'Hara High. Hogan, a 2001 O'Hara grad, was a member of the Lions' Catholic League championship team his senior year. Hogan is currently in his sixth season as the defensive backs coach at the University of Tennessse at Chattanooga. Before that, the Widener University grad spent three seasons as a special teams coordinator/defensive backs coach at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown. A 4-year starter at Widener, Hogan was thrice named the team's top defensive back.

WIDENER UNIVERSITY wide receiver and kick returner Anthony Davis keeps a nonchalant attitude about his dynamic play on the field, but the senior is definitely deserving of attention for his stellar contributions to the Pride during his collegiate career. Davis, a preseason Division III All-American selection by The Sporting News and the reigning Middle Atlantic Conference Player of the Year, is rewriting his school's football record books this season. He broke Widener's career marks for receptions and all-purpose yards in September.

Authorities arrested 35 people Friday in what prosecutors called a takedown of a drug-trafficking organization that they believe has contributed to an alarming spike in homicides this year in Chester. From stash houses scattered throughout the streets, dealers hid their products in playgrounds, mailboxes, and trash cans, investigators said, and sold them across Chester, including near the campuses of Widener University and the Frederick Douglass Christian School. Officials said the organization had long held the city's east side in a "choke hold.

Jeffrey Helphrey was named to the board of the Montgomery County Estate Planning Council . He is a manager at Wouch, Maloney & Co. L.L.P., Horsham. Anthony M. Padula , medical director at Independence Blue Cross, has been elected the 153d president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society . Riddle HealthCare Foundation elected the following members: Natalie D. Ramsey , partner at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads L.L.P., Philadelphia; William H. Clinger , retired president of William H. Clinger Corp.; and Chris Smith , vice president, commercial banking group, Bryn Mawr Trust Co. Widener University named Sophia Wisniewska , regional chancellor for the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and former chancellor of Pennsylvania State University's Brandywine campus, and Daniel Hartney , a senior business-management major from Scotia, N.Y., to its board of trustees.

With one daughter headed to college and another to high school - and, she hopes, someday, college - Angela Dawson didn't know how she was going to pay all the tuition bills. On Wednesday, she found out she wouldn't have to. Widener University announced that it would award $100,000 scholarships to every eighth-grade student who graduates from Widener Partnership Charter School in Chester. Educational experts say such incentive programs are becoming more popular around the country.